Pakistan: Agha Shahi's last stand

The Muslim, an Islamabad daily, has a high-sounding slogan emblazoned across its mast-head. It reads: "The press and the nation rise and fall together." But one man who might strongly object to the legitimacy of that slogan is former Pakistan foreign minister, Agha Shahi. Barely days after Shahi, the bespectacled arch-diplomat, stepped down earlier this year as foreign minister on grounds of ill health, The Muslim carried a laudatory editorial entitled "Well played Shahi".

The editorial, however, struck a rather jarring note when it referred to Shahi as "America's Man", a snide and clearly uncalled for reference to his pivotal role in the recent defence agreement with the Reagan Administration. Shahi, who intended to fade gracefully out of the Pakistan scene, found himself back in the headlines when he sued The Muslim for damages amounting to Rs 1 crore.

In his suit, which will come up for hearing in August before the Sind High Court, Shahi charged that The Muslim's remark was totally unfounded, baseless, defamatory and libellous in nature and had damaged his name, standing and reputation both in Pakistan and abroad and is likely to continue to cause him harm and loss of reputation.

Public Interest: Since then, the case has aroused great interest in Pakistan and hundreds of letters have appeared in various newspapers, including The Muslim. Inexplicably The Muslim, has replied to the odd letter apologising for the "misunderstanding" but so far has failed to do the same as far as Shahi himself is concerned. Instead, the paper carried a front page piece under the headline: "Lawyers offer their services to Muslim" which stated that lawyers of the Lahore High Court and the Supreme Court, after going through the editorial in question, had found nothing objectionable and were of the opinion that it had "removed doubts in the minds of certain quarters".

The Muslim's mast-head (above) and Shahi: history will be the judge

This only added fuel to the fire with Shahi maintaining that the article was only a reiteration of the earlier editorial and in fact, further damaged his reputation and standing. Barely days earlier, The Muslim had printed a reply to an irate letter in which the author, Abdul Basit Khan, had supported Shahi. The Muslim reply stated: "We are anguished if anything we said about Mr Shahi should have caused reader Khan such distress. We hasten to assure him that our respect and affection for Mr Shahi is no less than his own."

Shahi maintains that in the garb of the reply, the newspaper regretted their statement to Khan but failed to retract their allegation against him. While Islamabad buzzes with anticipation about when the case will come up for hearing, Shahi's strongest defence remains the evidence of his own career.

In fact, Shahi's suit goes into a long history of his performance as a public servant spanning 36 years, starting with his various ambassadorships and his stint as permanent representative to the UN from 1967 to 1977. In 1977, he was appointed secretary-general of foreign affairs with the rank of minister of state. In May 1980 he took over as foreign minister.Nobody's Stooge: Shahi also scores some major points in his detailing of the independent policy pursued by him on behalf of Pakistan in the case of Pakistan's withdrawal from the US-sponsored Central Treaty Organisation (Cento), admission to the non-aligned movement and his initiatives in various international forums. In that context, he also laid heavy emphasis on his part in negotiating bilateral agreements, particularly with reference to his work on the no-war pact with India.

But Shahi's most forceful argument is that the allegation also casts reflection on Pakistan's image inasmuch as it implies that Pakistan's foreign policy, of which he was the main architect, was influenced by him in the interests of a foreign power. Shahi, in his suit, also insists that the relationship between Pakistan and the US which culminated in the agreement of September 15, 1981, was in Pakistan's interests.

Both The Muslim and Shahi declined to comment on the case when approached by India Today on the grounds that it was sub judice. Shahi, however, has stated that if he wins the case he will donate the Rs 1 crore damages he is claiming to any charity that the High Court approves of. Meanwhile, the two protagonists are busy scrutinising the main piece of evidence in the case - Shahi's diplomatic career, albeit for different reasons. In this case, at least, history will obviously be the judge.

FILMS: THE SIREN SONG

Diplomatic wrangles have never curbed the appetite for Indian movies in Pakistan. Bombay's products have always had the right ingredients to command a vast audience in this country. It has always been the Government which has blocked the screening of Indian movies on the plea that Pakistan's fledgling movie industry needed a protected market if it was to prosper. But now the Government is finding that the phenomenal growth of the video industry is shooting huge holes in its policies.

Estimates have it that every tenth house in Karachi has a video cassette recorder (VCR) and families all over the city watch Indian movies every night. Some films are available even before their official premieres in India.Relaxation: Officially the government is still sticking to its policy of not allowing the screening of Indian movies. In practice, it has relaxed its views considerably. At one time people who screened Indian movies faced the threat of arrest under the Cinematograph Act. The Government has decided that it might as well close its eyes to these violations.

Another indicator of the Government's changed attitudes is that Pakistan's leading English daily Dawn owned by the family of Interior Minister Mahmud Haroon is also openly advocating the release of Indian films in Pakistan.

In an editorial titled "A Choice Of Films" the newspaper said: "We should seriously consider the possibility of importing a limited number of Indian films on some kind of barter basis. India does not only produce star-studded extravaganzas that feed our clandestine video circuit."

Even more surprising is the fact that many people in the movie industry are now openly demanding the screening of Indian films in Pakistan. Says Haroon Rashid, the chairman of the Pakistan Film Exhibitors Association (PFEA): "The protection to Pakistan's film industry has induced a false sense of complacency and has denuded film makers of the urge to make quality films."

This view has been supported by S. H. Fatmi, a former PFEA president who has voiced the same opinion and suggested that Indian films should be released in phases starting with the old ones whose prints are lying in Pakistan and are the legal property of distributors.

Disenchantment: The film industry has not veered round to this view suddenly. Disenchantment has been growing steadily, with the performance of the National Film Development Corporation (NAFDEC) which was supposed to be in charge of importing quality films to Pakistan. This is said to have had an adverse effect on Pakistan's own industry.

Says Hameed Zaman, a leading critic: "Our own industry refuses to come out of its shell made of glamorous saccharine. Present-day Pakistani films are hardly contemporary. They have no relevance to current day reality."

Other people in the film industry also make out a strong case for the import of Indian movies. Says Usman Peerzada, who acted in a controversial British-Sri Lankan joint venture Sita Devi: "Amritsar TV was not a cultural invasion but a cultural shock which we have over come by producing better teleplays."

Nur Jahan, the celebrated singer, who was in India recently has also added her voice to the plea for the screening of Indian films and the exchange of cultural visits.

But it looks as if there is no divorcing movies from other aspects of Indo-Pakistan relations and those who want to watch Indian movies will have to do so clandestinely for some time to come.

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